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A-ha’s chart-topping hit, “Take on Me” reached two billion YouTube views this week, marking the first song released in that decade to achieve this milestone. The Norwegian trio — Magne Furuholmen, Morten Harket and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, who were 22, 26 and 24, respectively at the time — released their debut album, Hunting High and Low, in […]
Green Day celebrated a major career milestone on Sept. 16, when their 1994 album Dookie was certified Double Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was just the 13th album to reach that plateau, which signifies shipments of 20 million albums (or streaming equivalent units) in the U.S. Double Diamond albums were […]
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the Billboard 200 dated Oct. 4, we look at a pack of new releases, led by Future’s Mixtape Pluto set, which could make him just the second artist this decade to notch three No. 1 albums in a calendar year.
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Future, Mixtape Pluto (Freebandz/Epic): Six months after helping to fire the opening shot that set off the hip-hop World War that was the Kendrick Lamar-Drake feud, with the Lamar-featuring “Like That” single off his and producer co-star Metro Boomin’s first of two We Still Don’t Trust You sets, rap superstar Future is back with his third all-new album of 2024. Mixtape Pluto debuted on Friday (Sept. 20), though with no big-name guests throwing down gauntlets for the rest of the rap world to respond to – no guests of any kind, actually, as the set features Future as the lone credited performer on all 17 of the tracks on its streaming release.
Nonetheless, the set has performed predictably well on streaming – particularly on Apple Music, where it blanketed the top of the real-time charts upon its Friday release, and still claims the entire top five as of Wednesday. (It’s been a little less prolific on Spotify, where it currently holds just five spots in the entire Daily Top Songs USA top 200, and none in the top 40.) Unlike some other recent Future releases (and despite its mixtape billing), however, this album has the advantage of a physical release to go with it – which is only 11 tracks long, but is available on both CD and vinyl on his webstore and at some brick-and-mortar stores.
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If Future debuts atop the Billboard 200 with Mixtape Pluto, it would mark his eighth consecutive official solo album to do so, dating back to DS2 – as well as his 11th No. 1 album overall, moving him into a five-way tie with Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, Ye and Eminem for the fourth-most such albums in Billboard 200 history. It would also be his third No. 1 of 2024 alone, after We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You, which would make him just the second artist this decade to score three No. 1 albums in the same calendar year – following (of course) Taylor Swift, who pulled off the achievement in 2021 with Evermore, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) — and the first to debut three albums there in one year (Evermore having previously topped the chart in 2020).
Katy Perry, 143 (Capitol): It’s been one of the most buzzed-about promo campaigns of 2024, although not always for the best reasons: Katy Perry’s 143 debuts this week after months of lead-up, kicked off by the release of July lead single “Woman’s World,” which drew negative reviews and lasted just one week on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequent advance tracks were less coldly received but made minimal commercial impact, though Perry’s career-spanning performance while receiving the Video Vanguard award at the MTV Video Music Awards two weeks ago (Sept. 11) was well-received.
The set is finally out now, and features guest turns from hitmakers 21 Savage, Kim Petras, JID and Doechii, the latter of whom appeared on stage with Perry at the VMAs to perform their Crystal Waters-lifting “I’m His, He’s Mine.” While the set does not appear to be generating any significant streaming hits, it will have the sales advantage of an array of physical releases – with eight vinyl variants (including some retail exclusives, as well as a signed edition exclusive to her d2c), a couple CD variants (including a signed edition exclusive to her d2c and a deluxe-packaging edition with collectible ephemera) and even a cassette.
Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (KRA/Amusement/Island/Republic): Speaking of the VMAs: One of its other most notable performers and winners is also in the hunt for the No. 1 spot this week. Chappell Roan, who took home best new artist and delivered a memorable medieval performance of standalone single “Good Luck, Babe!” at the ceremonies, recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her slow-developing blockbuster The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess with a new physical reissue of the set, including multiple new vinyl variants.
It could be the best chance that the set, which climbed all the way to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 after 20 weeks on the chart, has to get that final boost that it needs to reach No. 1 – though with Future’s combined streaming and sales numbers, it might be a tough week for it to finally get over the top. However, the album has been hanging in the top five for months now, with no real signs that its streaming dominance is coming to an end, so count it out at your own peril.
IN THE MIX
Lil Tecca, Plan A (Galactic/Republic): While he hasn’t had a major Hot 100 hit since 2019’s “Ransom,” Lil Tecca has proved himself a fairly reliable performer on streaming in the years since – and scored an impressive slow-burner last year with the “500 Lbs” single. His three official studio albums to date have all bowed around the border of the top 10 (No. 10 for 2020’s Virgo World, No. 10 for 2021’s We Love You Tecca 2 and No. 11 for 2023’s Tec), and this month’s Plan A will likely be shooting for roughly the same range – with strong streaming performance and multiple digital variants available for sale on his webstore, including one digitally signed version and one with two bonus tracks.
Keith Urban, High (Capitol Nashville / Hit Red): Keith Urban’s first album in four years features the top 20 Country Airplay hit “Messed Up as Me,” and is available in four vinyl variants and three CD variants, including a couple retail exclusives with exclusive branded paper merch. Urban has a streak of eight consecutive top 10 studio albums on the Billboard 200 to protect, a run which dates back to Be Here in 2004.
Every month, Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors spotlight a group of rising artists whose music we love. Think “diamantes en bruto,” or “diamonds in the rough.” These are newcomers who have yet to impact the mainstream — but whose music excites us, and who we believe our readers should make a point to discover.
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Our latest edition of On the Radar Latin includes a wave of emerging artists, who we discovered either by networking or coming across their music at a showcase, and beyond. See our recommendations this month below:
Artist: Emmanuel Cortes
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Country: Mexico
Why They Should Be on Your Radar: In recent months, Emmanuel Cortes has captivated the social media realm with his viral “Amor.” In true fashion, I discovered Cortes while scrolling on TikTok, where his catchy norteño-cumbia track backed by his smooth tenor vocals has garnered nearly 500k video creations of couples of all ages dancing to the feel-good bop. Boasting over 180K followers on TikTok and more than 70K on Instagram, with only one post on the latter, Cortes marks the new wave of Música Mexicana gems. On his YouTube channel, you will only find one music video (“Amor,” with over five million views), but on his Spotify, you’ll come across his nine-song album Memorias
In each of the past four weeks, Sabrina Carpenter has placed three songs in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. On the latest Sept. 28-dated chart, “Espresso” rebounds to its No. 3 high, having become her first top 10; “Taste” ranks at No. 8, after it debuted at its No. 2 best; and “Please Please Please” places at No. 9, after it became the ascendant pop star’s first No. 1 in June.
Thanks to her trio of buzzy hits, all from Short n’ Sweet, her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, Carpenter is the first artist to notch a run of as many as four weeks with at least three simultaneous Hot 100 top 10s this decade.
Drake last scored such a hat trick, posting nine consecutive weeks with three Hot 100 top 10s in April-June 2018, all from his Billboard 200 No. 1 Scorpion.
Notably, Carpenter ties Cardi B for the longest such streak among women, as the rapper claimed three concurrent Hot 100 top 10s for four weeks in January 2018.
Overall, 50 Cent has linked the longest run of three or more Hot 100 top 10s, having tripled (or quadrupled) up for 11 straight weeks in February-April 2005.
As with many Hot 100 achievements, The Beatles did it first. For 10 weeks in a row, on the charts dated Feb. 29 through May 2, 1964, they tallied five weeks with three top 10s; three weeks with a fab four top 10s; and two frames with five top 10s.
Meanwhile, Carpenter, Justin Bieber (10 weeks, 2015-16) and The Beatles are the only artists to earn such a streak in the Hot 100’s top 10 for four or more weeks consecutively with no other billed acts on their songs.
Below, browse through a rundown of every act, spanning from early Beatlemania to Carpenter’s now lengthy (n’ sweet) success, that has earned three or more simultaneous Hot 100 top 10s for four or more consecutive weeks.
Sabrina Carpenter
Image Credit: Bryce Anderson
Playboi Carti snatches his first top 10 as the sole lead artist on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as “All Red” arrives at No. 3 on the list dated Sept. 28. The track rides a massive streaming wave to the top tier and extends his streak of consecutive top 10s – either in lead or […]
As the countdown continues to the 58th annual CMA Awards, set to air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 20, country music fans will be anxious to see who takes home the evening’s top prize — entertainer of the year. This year, the nominees are Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson.
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Luke Bryan, a two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner himself, is offering his thoughts to Billboard on who could potentially take home this year’s EOY accolade.
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“I look back at when I won CMA entertainer of the year and in my opinion, that’s always been about who has sold the most tickets and has been kind of the most impressive thing out there in the touring world,” Bryan says.
Each of the nominees has been selling out headlining shows in venues ranging from amphitheaters and arenas to stadiums: Wallen on his One Night at a Time Tour, Combs on his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour, Stapleton with his All-American Road Show Tour, Jelly Roll with his Beautifully Broken Tour and Wilson with her Country’s Cool Again Tour.
“When I look at what Morgan Wallen’s doing out there, selling out multiple [stadiums], and I know Luke Combs is doing that too, and obviously, they’re just both great entertainers,” Bryan says. “I don’t know who to sit there and put my endorsement on, but I have just been in awe watching Morgan Wallen go from being on some of my stadium tours and hanging on the bus with me, to watching him just really put up Garth Brooks-like stadium shows, has been pretty incredible. So, I think certainly it’d be something really, really great if Morgan might get him one or two, or three or four the next couple of years. But I think they’re all worthy of it. Lainey won last year, and that’ll probably put her in the front-runner spot, too, but it is a hot seat kind of thing. They all got my vote.”
Wallen, who scored his third CMA entertainer of the year nomination this year, leads this year’s overall CMA nominees with seven nods. Meanwhile, Stapleton earned his eighth nomination in the entertainer of the year category (he has yet to win the prize), while Combs earned his fifth nomination in the category (he has previously won twice), Wilson picked up her second EOY nomination (she is the reigning CMA EOY winner) and Jelly Roll nabbed his first nomination in the category this year.
Bryan is gearing up for the release of his new album, Mind of a Country Boy, on Friday (Sept. 27). The 14-song album features his current single, “Love You, Miss You, Mean It,” which currently resides at No. 8 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.
Bunnie XO continues to be Jelly Roll’s muse! The Dumb Blonde podcast host took to TikTok to share a snippet of one of her husband’s unreleased love songs. “He wrote me a new song,” she captioned the video, which features scenes of the couple having fun and spending time together. “Woman, without you on my lips/ […]
Texas’ Maxo Kream and Cali’s Tyler, the Creator team up for a Big Western Showdown. Directed by Karim Belkasemi, the duo keep it simple, yet stylish for the “Cracc Era” music video as they rap over Tyler production fitted up in a studio with a white backdrop. The beat harkens back to the Odd Future […]
Warning: This story contains mentions of suicide.
Lisa Marie Presley‘s death at 53 last year was attributed to a small-bowel obstruction the only child of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley suffered several years after weight loss-related bariatric surgery. But in a new interview with People magazine, Presley’s daughter, Daisy Jones & the Six star actress Riley Keough, said her mother’s passing was also due to a heavy emotional burden she carried.
Keough said that her brother Benjamin’s death by suicide in 2020 at age 27 had a profound effect on Presley. “My mom tried her best to find strength for me and my younger sisters after Ben died, but we knew how much pain she was in,” said Keough, 35, of Presley, who in addition to sharing Riley and Benjamin with ex-husband Danny Keough also had 15-year-old twins Finely and Harper with ex Michael Lockwood.
“My mom physically died from the after effects of her surgery, but we all knew she died of a broken heart,” said Keough. The People interview is packaged with an excerpt from Lisa Marie’s posthumous memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, which is due out on Oct. 8. Presley had begun work on the autobiography before her death, with Keough stepping in to finish the book by listening to the hours of tape her mother had recorded before putting her stories into print.
“This extraordinary book is composed of both Lisa Marie’s and Riley’s voice, a mother and daughter communicating across the transom of death as they try to heal each other,” reads a press release about the book. “Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other — the last words of the only child of a true legend.”
According to People, in the memoir Presley — who had previously told the magazine that she would never “move on” from her son’s death — says she and Keough healed their broken hearts by “helping people. One kid wrote to Riley and said, ‘I didn’t kill myself last night because of what you said it would do to my family and those that are left behind. So thank you.’ That helped me. That brought me up.’” Keough said that her brother’s death was “incredibly difficult to write about, as was my mom’s descent into addiction. And her own death, of course.”
The actress cautioned that the book is not strictly about grief, but also about the “very human experience of love, heartbreak, loss, addiction and family. [My mom] wanted to write a book in the hopes that someone could read her story and relate to her, to know that they’re not alone in the world. Her hope with this book was just human connection. So that’s mine.”
Keough will discuss the book in an upcoming Oprah Winfrey special from Elvis’ Graceland, An Oprah Special: The Presleys – Elvis, Lisa Marie and Riley, that will air on CBS and Paramount+ on Oct. 8.